Epilogue
Abby
Two Years Later
Something I always thought would make me love Lanai even more than I already did was being able to see the sun rise over the water instead of setting. The morning sun had just begun illuminating our bedroom.
I was awake, just sort of slipping in and out of wakefulness, enjoying the feel of the sun on my naked body and the sound of Nate's playing infiltrating the rest of the house from the living room.
The wall facing the water in our bedroom wasn't a wall at all. It was all glass, with a sliding door that opened onto a balcony. He had asked for it just for me, knowing how I felt about mornings. We had gone back and forth about the design of the house for months before agreeing on something that was small enough for me to be comfortable in, and grand enough for Nate to feel like he was giving me a gift by having it built.
I had been a little sad about leaving my beachside hut near the Four Seasons, but this place was nice, too. We had designed it from the ground up, and Nate had called it my present for our one year anniversary when we had moved in. I had wanted something small and cozy for two people to live in that didn't feel cold and empty. He had drawn inspiration from a beachfront villa he and his parents would stay in when they would come to Hawai'i when he was a child.
The compromise had been a scaled down villa on the eastern coast of the island overlooking the beach. It was secluded, but not isolated. We had our privacy, but the city was less than twenty minutes away when we really wanted to go.
I stretched in the sunlight like a lizard basking on a rock. Nate often played in the morning. His inspiration hit at the strangest times, but I loved when the sun was just creeping up the horizon and his playing infiltrated my fading dreams. I could hear his voice, too; he was singing. He composed and wrote more than he sang, so it was always a treat when he did.
It was time to get up. I wasn't even tired anymore; I was just being lazy. I had graduated a while back, and the summer peak season had just come to an end. I was enjoying my days off after a busy season. I climbed out of bed and walked to our split closet. I pulled on a pair of panties and grabbed one of his worn old t-shirts to go downstairs in.
I walked down the stairs, following the music. The closer I got, the clearer I heard the song. I recognized it. It was the one he had written for me his first summer here. He tended to play a lot of the old stuff he had written with Remus, too.
He had distanced himself from the band since he had ventured out on his own solo career, but since he had writing credits on so many of the band's songs, people were constantly finding out about Nate through the band anyway.
If the balcony upstairs was for me, the recording studio basement was for him. I had felt he needed it to make up for the fact that we lived so far from Los Angeles where the people he collaborated with lived. Having a studio at home meant he didn't always have to leave when he needed to record. The times he did have to travel for shows were bad enough, especially when I couldn't join him.
His beautiful grand piano was in the living room. I walked into the room seeing him, but stopped. It was starting to get light outside, but the room was illuminated with soft yellow light from candles on the mantle and coffee table. A sea of blood red rose petals covered the floor between me and Nate at the piano. The scene was soft and romantic, but we’d already celebrated two years a couple weeks ago. I didn’t know what this was for.
"Nate?" I called carefully, walking into the room, feeling petals beneath my feet. The playing stopped, and he looked over his shoulder at me. He didn't have a shirt on. He was on the bench in just a pair of pajama pants. He smiled seeing me and waved me over.
"Morning, babe," he said, grinning.
"Hey," I said smiling, walking up to the bench. I sat next to him with my back to the piano so I could face him. He kissed me sweetly. "What happened in here?" I asked.
"Do you like it?"
"It's beautiful, but I don't know what we're celebrating."
"Do I need a reason to do something nice for you?" he asked, smiling.
"This is for me?"
"Everything I do is for you, Abby," he said.
It had been two years of hearing him say things like that to me, and they still never failed to fill me up with insane pleasure. He was a songwriter; he knew how to say things to make them sound the sweetest, but that wasn't even where it stopped. I believed him when he said things to me because he was generous with his words, his heart, his body, his money. He gave me everything.
"I love it," I said. "Thank you."
"I love doing things for you; don't mention it. I should be the one thanking you," he said.
"Me? What for?" I asked.
"For all the delicious food you make me, for coming with me on tour, for being my biggest supporter," he said making a list.
"I do those things because I love you, Nate. You don't have to thank me."
"I wouldn't be able to do anything without you, Abby," he said.
"Oh, come on. What were you doing before we met?"
"Nothing," he said seriously. "Nothing good. I wasn't making music, I was high all the time; I was a junkie."
I sighed. I remembered. The more distance we gained from the time, the more dire it seemed in my remembrance of it. We were both here on the other side of it, in love and stronger than ever, but when we had met, this man that he was today was somewhere obscured behind the pain of a broken dream, a failed marriage, and addiction. It was hard to think sometimes that he was the same person.
His left arm was covered in beautiful, dark tattoos instead of track scars now. He was inspired and healthy, and through it all, he was still the creative, beautiful soul I'd been drawn to when we met.
"All that happened in the past. You aren't that person anymore. You got better, and you took your career back."
"I didn't do shit, Abby. You're the one who got me here."
"I just didn't let you ignore me," I said, smiling.
"You treated me like I was someone worth saving," he said. "I wouldn't be alive if you hadn’t driven me crazy the first summer I got here." I smiled, remembering how upset he would get when I'd wake him up in the morning.
"Yes, you would, Nate," I said. "I'm not the one who beat your addiction — you are."
"If you weren't there, I wouldn't have been able to do it. You were it, Abby. You still are. I'm alive because of you, and you deserve every last one of the years I have left on this earth." I felt my eyes well up.
"You don't owe me anything, Nate. Here and now with you is enough." He shook his head.
"I don't want here and now Abby; I want every day." I watched him stand and round the bench. "Abby," he said quietly. He took one of my hands and sunk down on one knee. My heart started pounding as I realized what was happening.
"Every good thing in my life I can trace back to you. I had nothing when we met, and you gave me everything. I didn't know what unconditional love felt like before I met you and when I think of the future, you're the only thing I know I can't live without. I have a life because of you, and I don't want to live life without you."
I wanted to say something, but I couldn't, my throat was closed, and tears were pouring down my face. I saw him reach into his pajama pants pocket and pull out a ring.
"Abby Terrell, I love you, and I don't want to live a life without you in it. Marry me?"
I nodded because I couldn't speak. He slid the ring on my finger and stood up. I looked at it. It was a beautiful pink stone in a rose-gold band.
"I thought..."
"You thought I'd never ask you?"
"I thought you didn't want to do it again," I said.
"I didn't want to do it again with the wrong person," he said. "You're the right person, Abby. You're the only person. Do you want to be my wife?"
"Yes," I said, looking up at him. "Of course. I just want to make you happy."
"You already do, babe," he said. I smiled. He made me happy, too. Happy, excited, passionate...full. He was my missing piece to paradise. Now I had everything.
FIREWORKS
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Claire Adams
Chapter One
Cora
"Finally. Thanks for staying behind with me. I thought the funeral was going to be more difficult than it was." Emily turned around and smiled. "I'm glad I have you."
"You stayed with me while I wrapped up that issue I had with my science credits, and I stayed to help you get through Mimi's death. We're best friends. It's what we do."
"I guess. Remind me to give the other two hell for leaving without us a few weeks ago."
I tugged on the zipper of my suitcase and glanced up. "I'm glad they did. I'd rather they get to the lake house early and clean up the spider webs for us."
"I guess, but I'm sure Cindy already has several guys helping her do anything she wants. I swear the girl sold her soul to the devil to attract any man she wants."
Emily moved over to my bed and pushed down on the top of my suitcase. My best friend since grade school was far too pretty to cover herself up the way she did. I glanced over and let my eyes run over her baggy t-shirt and loose shorts.
"She's just friendly, cute, and looks innocent. Unlike us," I snorted and tugged hard on the zipper. "You're bringing something other than your baggy clothes, right? You have a hot body under all of that, you know?"
"This again?" She gave me a sideways glance. Her dark hair was pulled up in a loose ponytail, her face free of makeup.
"I'll always plague you about this. You're never going to find a guy when you don't look like you want to." I moved back and bent over, tying my tennis shoes and admiring her shapely legs. "And, I know you want a boyfriend."
"I do, but I'm not getting him with nothing more than physical attraction between us, Cora. I've seen how well that's worked out for both you and Cindy. Guys who are head-over-heels for a hot girl are everywhere. And no offense, but it would seem that it's not just the first hot girl they meet that steals their attention. It's every hot girl. How long am I going to entertain a guy that thinks with his dick instead of his brain?"
I nodded and stood up. "I get it."
There hadn't been too many times in my life that I could recall having a boyfriend who didn't sleep around while we were dating. Brandon James was the most recent, and thanks to him, I'd sworn off guys for a while — and blonds forever.
"Hey." She reached out and touched my shoulder. "I didn't mean to insinuate anything. I just don't want a guy who's interested in the size of my boobs and not my personality, nor my intelligence."
"Good luck with that." I walked to the kitchen table and picked up the brochure from Emily's grandmother's funeral. "The service was beautiful. I'm proud of you for speaking at it. I know that had to be hard."
I turned to smile at her as countless memories of our summers at her Mimi's house raced over me.
"She would have been disappointed if I didn’t. I'm sure the silly old goat would have haunted me." The smirk that lifted her mouth didn't take away from the sadness around her eyes, but it was a start toward healing.
"This is true, and she would have haunted me for not supporting you." I laughed and grabbed my sunglasses and keys. "We ready?"
"Yep. I just need to run to the restroom. Get the snacks out of the cabinet that I picked up for us. It's cheaper to buy in bulk." She turned and walked out of the room as I rolled my eyes.
After grabbing the treats, I did a quick sweep through the apartment and let out a sigh. "Four years of my life...over."
Graduation had been a few weeks before, and I was now a grown up — or I was supposed to be.
"Are you talking to yourself again?" Emily snagged the keys from me. "I want to drive the Beamer. My parents aren't rich, and I'm almost out of time to live vicariously through you and yours."
"Don't say that." I picked up the bag of snacks and walked into the living room. "You and I are going to be in each other’s lives forever."
"You really think so?" She glanced over her shoulder as she popped the handle to her suitcase.
"I know so. We've been friends since grade school. Why would that change now? We're finally free." I grabbed my bag and walked to the door. "You sure your brother is going to take good care of this place?"
"Yes, for the millionth time. He's just like me: conservative, timid, and a clean freak." She shrugged and opened the door, moving out into the hall. "Besides, he needs to check out the campus, and this is a great way to do it. We're stuck in this damn lease until September, thanks to you."
"Always my fault." I paused to lock the door as a warm breeze blew through the open-air hallway.
"It usually is and you know it," she chuckled.
"If it makes you feel better to blame me, then fine. I'll take it." I tugged at the shoulder of her shirt and shook my head. "I'm getting you in a bikini this summer."
"I'll wear one with you guys, but it's not happening in public. My boobs are too big, and they don't talk back," she smirked.
"They don't talk back? What the hell does that mean?" I paused by the only elevator in our apartment complex, preparing for a long wait as per usual.
"Guys talk to my chest when I wear normal clothes. My boobs don't talk back. I need to get a shirt made that says that."
"I almost feel giddy for the man that actually catches your eye and means enough to pull your clothes off for. He's going to feel like he just uncovered buried treasure," I laughed as she pushed at me.
"You're jealous."
"Of course, I am. You're insanely hot and yet you hide yourself behind all those clothes. It makes no sense to me, but I support whatever makes you comfortable." I got into the elevator to find it empty. The apocalypse must have been coming; it was usually packed with people, most of whom were frat boys who didn't seem to think personal space existed.
"No, you don't, but whatever. Your peer pressure might work on Cindy and Dedra, but I'm immune to it. I've been fighting it my whole life."
I let out a soft gasp. "Me? Peer pressuring someone? Next, you'll be calling me bossy."
"You? Never," She rolled her eyes and held the door for me.
"I can't help it, and you know it. You've met my father, right? If he wants his way, all else be damned." I tugged my suitcase out into the hallway and nodded at a hot guy walking toward us. I turned my head to check him out as he passed, only to find him doing the same.
"I thought you swore off men." Emily bumped her suitcase against mine.
"Just blonds. He had brown hair." I winked and moved down the sidewalk, letting out a groan. "Why is Arizona so hot during the summer?"
"At least it's dry heat." Her tone was pinched.
"Alright, what's up?" I popped the trunk and lugged my bag into the back of the car. My parents had outdone themselves with my new BMW for graduation, and where I wanted to think it was for doing a great job, I knew better. Nothing came from my father without strings attached. It was an incentive to keep going. My business degree was great and a good start, but pre-law was next. No matter how much I abhorred the idea of it.
"Nothing. I'm just worried about you." She lugged her bag into the back. Her shirt pulled tight, and I could make out her curves. She was perfect, and yet her jacked up sense of self-preservation left her hiding all the time.
She hides behind clothes, and I hide behind false importance.
"Don't worry about me, Emily. I'm good. Brandon is in the rearview mirror — long gone." I shrugged and closed the trunk. "Let's stop talking about the past and start living in the future."
"How about we live in the present?" She glanced at me over the top of the car. "You sure you're good with me driving?"
"Yep. You wreck it and you get to talk to my dad."
"Oh, hell no." She tossed the keys over the hood, and I jumped up to catch them.
"I was kidding." I watched her as she walked around the car.
"Yeah, well, just in case you're not. I'm not looking for any reason to talk to your dad. He's the only guy in the world I think has the ability to make someone feel stupid before even entering the room he's in."
I moved around to the driver's side door and opened it, getting in and buckling up. "You should try living with him. College has been a dream come true." Nostalgia rolled over me as I glanced up the road to see the signs for Arizona State. "I love this place. I'm going to miss it."
"Not me. I'm going to start my master’s in the fall and before I know it, I'll be teaching in the science department. I'm never leaving." She settled in before turning around to look in the back seat.
"Lucky." I turned to see what she was up to before starting the car. "The snacks are in the back of the car."
"Why? That's not gonna help us when we're starving in ten minutes." She got out and moved to the back as I popped the trunk.
I was leaving behind a lot of good memories from college, as well as some not-so-good memories. I wanted to be excited about the future, but it was hard. It wasn't my future, but one my parents were still working to control.
A summer on Lake Havasu would do me some good, even if my parents highly disapproved of such a waste of time. Avoiding their phone calls was getting trickier, but I was still managing, somehow.
"Got 'em." She got into the car and tossed the bag in the back. "Let's go. I want to get there and let my hair down."
I reached over and tugged at her ponytail. "Let it down now. I'll roll the windows down, and we can let this hot ass air blow through our hair."
"No thanks. I'd rather breathe, but thank you." She pulled out her phone and leaned back. "Do you really think I might find someone to hang out with this summer?"
"You're hanging out with us." I pulled out of the parking lot and gave her a quick sideways glance. "Are you talking about a guy?"
She popped me in the arm. "Of course, I'm talking about a guy."
"Yeah, I think you could find several ‘someones’ to hang out with. Let me do your hair and help you pick out an outfit one of the nights we go out."
I almost flinched as she turned to face me. We'd had the same conversation for most of our lives. I loved makeup and dressing up and being girlie. Emily, not so much.
"Alright. I'll let you do it, but you have to promise me that you won't set me up." She stuck out her pinkie. "Pinkie promise me."
"What are we, ten?" I extended my hand and wrapped my pinkie around hers. "I promise."
"Good, and stop degrading our trust system." She smirked and kicked off her shoes before putting her feet on the dashboard. "You okay with my feet up here?"
"Absolutely. It's my dad's car. I'm just using it until I disappoint him again." I gave a sardonic chuckle.
"That's dumb. You're twenty-two, Cora. When are they going to stop acting like you’re still a kid?" She brushed her hands over her legs and let out a long yawn.
"I guess when I stop acting like one, so never?" We laughed for a few minutes over how ridiculous my parents were, more so my father than my mother. She just nodded and went along with his directives. As much as I loved her, I wasn't sure she had ever had an idea that wasn't my father’s at the start.
"What are you looking forward to this summer?" Emily glanced over at me as she worked her long, black hair out of the ponytail.
"Spending time with you, Cindy, and Dedra, for sure. Laying in the sun in a tiny bikini and getting a tan. Finding a cute boy to skinny dip with." I smiled as she let out a dramatic gasp.
"You hooker. You're not skinny dipping with a boy. That leads to sex, which leads to love, which…”
"Ain't nobody trying to fall in love." I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers through my shoulder-length, chestnut hair.
"I'm sure you're not going to be trying, but you know how these things go for you. You're horrible at flings. Dedra and Cindy? They have it down, but you're no good at it." She shook her head, and I reached over, gripping just above her knee and squeezing as she squealed.
"Oh yeah? Maybe I'm going to prove you all wrong," I pulled back as she swatted at me.
"No, you're not." She pulled her legs down and grabbed her phone as it buzzed. "That's Dedra."
"Put her on speaker." I smiled as excitement bubbled up inside of me. I needed this summer more than any of the others. They had something to look forward to at the end of it; I had these three months and that was it.
"Hey. We're just leaving the campus." Emily put the phone on the dash.
Dedra's voice filled up the car, causing me to smile. "Good. It's been a long two weeks without you guys. Cindy is grabbing some groceries, and I was in charge of cleaning up the house. Don't look in the closets or under the beds, okay? No telling on me."
I snorted. "Have you guys been having a good time?"
"Honestly, we've been resting a lot. We have a boat as part of the rental property. Did I tell you that?"
"No, but I'm ready to get on it." I glanced over at Emily and smirked. "Who's been driving that thing? I know Cindy hasn't."
"Me and the occasional boy Cindy brings home. I swear this girl is a man-magnet."
"She looks like a model," Emily added to the conversation.
"So do you, under those clothes," Dedra chuckled as I gave Emily a knowing look.
"Whatever. You guys need us to grab anything before we get there?" Emily tugged at her seatbelt.
She hated to be the center of attention, and I was hoping like hell I could help her get over that during our next few months at the lake together. She deserved the world, and yet it would be her own fault if she didn't get it.
"Nope. We just need you guys." Dedra's voice was filled with excitement.
"We'll be there shortly. Tell Cindy to round up some hot guys. We need something pretty to look at after the week we've had." I let out a short sigh and picked up the phone. "See you soon."
Emily glanced over at me as I dropped the call. "Thanks again for staying behind with me. I'm not sure I would have gotten through Mimi's funeral without you."
"I'll always be here for you. Now it's time to leave the past in the past and enjoy our summer. You ready?"
"Hell yes. Drive faster."
Chapter Two
Brody
"You getting tired of all of this yet?" Daniel glanced over at me as we lay on the dock just outside the house, our feet skimming across the top of the lake.
I opened my eyes and turned to look at him as I ran my hand over my chest. "Is that a joke? We have a boat, plenty of beer, and a new wave of scantily clad chicks rolling in daily. This is heaven. I'm staying forever."
He laughed and turned to look up at the sky. "Real life waits at the end of this summer. Sucks."
I sat up and grumbled under my breath at him. "Always pissing on the parade."
A boat pulled by just a few feet from us and the group of girls on it started to give us shit. I couldn't have been more thrilled. Daniel not so much, but me? I knew how to handle a woman, and they were all the same.
"Hey, good looking," a leggy blonde called out as she stood up from the passenger's side seat of the boat, pulling off her sunglasses.
"Hey there. You guys behaving yourselves?" I glanced down the lake, not giving her too much attention.
Daniel sat up beside me and growled. We'd been friends for a while, and he was a good guy – maybe too good. He hadn't dated much. School mattered too much to divert his attention from it.
And, that's why you'll be a doctor and I'll be a pauper.
"Behaving?" The girls laughed. "Who wants to behave? That doesn't sound like fun, at all."
"Right." I pressed my hand into the dock beside me and pushed up, getting to my feet in one smooth motion. I pulled my t-shirt over my head. "Come get me. I'll drive you girls around a little."
"Brody. Come on, dude," Daniel mumbled and got up, giving me a look.
"What? Come with us. What harm can it do? There's a blow job in one of those girls. No?" I was half-whispering, but could have cared less if all of them heard me. Most of us were at the lake to get laid and forget about reality, and I was their king.
Daniel turned his attention back to the girls as they giggled. "You think?"
"Yep." I turned back to blondie. "You up for it? Like to go fast?"
"I love fast." She tapped her friend's shoulder as the girl bobbed up and down in the driver’s seat.
The driver pulled her headphones off and glanced up. "What?"
"We're letting sexy over there take us for a ride." Blondie glanced up to me and tilted her head. "You prepared for the afternoon?"
Condoms. I slipped my hands in my pockets and shook my head.
"Nope. A pretty woman like yourself doesn't go everywhere prepared for a chance encounter with the man of her dreams?" I gave her a sexy smile, letting my eyes moved down her taunt, tanned flesh, imagining all the ways I could make her moan. She was breathtaking, and yet a dime a dozen.
"Is that a joke?" she laughed.
"I guess so." I bent down and picked up my shirt before turning to Daniel. "Let's go, buddy. Time for a beer run, anyway."
We started back toward the house as she called out to me. "Wait. Where are you going?"
I looked back, but didn't stop walking. "To get prepared for the next boat of hot women — unless you're still here when I get back."
"What? I'm not waiting here for you." Her anger was cute. It was nice to know in advance that she was a drama queen – from calm to raging in three point two seconds.
"Your loss, baby-doll." I glanced down the street before tugging at Daniel's t-shirt. "Let's go, buddy."
"What the fuck just happened?" He glanced over his shoulder and jogged across the street with me. "Were those girls really going to let you drive the boat? There's liability insurance that has to be filled out for that sort of thing. It doesn't just cover everyone.”
I popped him in the chest and lifted my eyebrow as we stopped on the other side of the road by the rental house. "Hey, we're 22, not 82. Slow your roll on being a stiff, okay?"
"Whatever. You guys are going to learn one day that life isn't a game." He glanced back over his shoulder as indecision raged across his face. "Are we going back down there?"
"Nope." I gripped the side of the patio railing and pulled hard, hopping over it and leaving him to walk up the stairs.
"What? Why not?" He jogged up beside me, tugging at my arm by the front door. "The brunette was kind of cute. I wouldn't mind talking to her."
"Talking?" I laughed and pushed the door open. "There's no talking to those kinds of girls, Dan. They want a quick fix and that's it."
"Quick fix? Sex?" He laughed sardonically as he closed the door.
"Sex?" Clay glanced up from reading a magazine. My oldest friend was stretched across the couch, his short, stocky frame only taking up two thirds of it.
"You need some? They're selling it on pier 322." I wagged my eyebrows and walked into the kitchen to search for something to eat. "Where's Derek? Still sleeping?"
"No, he met that girl a few nights ago at the club in town, remember? Sarah, Sandra, Stephanie?" Clay groaned loudly before walking into the kitchen, rubbing his chest. "I'm still sore from playing ball two days ago. What the hell?"
"We've been laying around for almost three weeks, Clay." I turned and back-handed him in the chest. He tried to get out of my reach, but I was captain of the rugby team: “Quick” was my middle name.
"Fuck, dude. I told you I was hurting." He swung at me playfully.
I moved and caught his arm, pulling hard and pressing him to the refrigerator before putting my shoulder into his back.
"What's on the agenda today?" I reached around and poked his chest again before moving back and laughing.
He came out of the hold swinging again. The only thing he connected with was Daniel. The poor guy had chosen the wrong time to come in the kitchen.
"Ouch, that hurt." Daniel swung back, not capable of putting too much of a hurt on anyone. Where Clay was short and stocky, Daniel was tall and thin as a rail.
"Hey; all my fault." I lifted my hands and smiled as they turned and started after me. I busted through the front door and was halfway across the street by the time they came out of the house. I stood on the other side of the road and laughed at the look on their faces. Joke’s on them.
"Are you coming?" a pissy voice called from behind me.
"Oh fuck," I mumbled and turned around as a smirk lifted my lips. "You still here, baby?"
"You told us to wait," one of her friend's piped in.
"Right… About that…" I never got out another word. My two friends grabbed me and together wrestled me to the edge of the dock before launching me off of it.
I hit the water laughing. Payback was hell, and I was grateful for a reason to put the hurt on them soon. I came up in time to get a glass of beer to the face.
"I hope the alligators in this lake eat your dick off." The blonde threw the cup at me.
I lifted my arm and diverted it as a laugh bubbled up in me. "That might be good for everyone around here. He'd be full for a week."
"Ugh. Get us out of here, Tesa." The girl moved back as I submerged myself under the dark blue water and pushed off toward the dock. Girls were readily available and more than willing to strip for any swinging dick. I was just grateful that the offering was plentiful.
I had only one rule: sleep with them once and never again.
In all my years of fooling around with women, I'd never failed to hold tight to it, and as far as I was concerned, that wasn't going to change for a long time.
I pulled myself up onto the dock and glanced over my shoulder as the blonde turned toward me and tugged her top off. Her breasts were beautiful and big enough to send a shockwave of desire through me.
"See what you're missing?" She shrugged, causing them to bounce.
"I'm right up there in cabin 10-A. When you're ready for the best experience you'll have this side of heaven, come find me. I don't chase women, sweetness. There's no need for it."
I turned and jogged across the street, hating myself for not climbing into the boat and giving in to her. It would have been an afternoon of lust, as I have no doubt that each of her friends would have wanted a turn, too, and who was I to deny anyone?
I walked back into the house and pulled my swim trucks off. "You fuckers. You're going down for that."
"Oh yeah?" Clay looked up from the couch about the time I lodged my trunks at him. They smacked him in the face, and I laughed so hard I had to reach out and grab the table next to me.
"Yeah, bitch. Where's Daniel? I need to slap him around a little." I walked down the hall as Clay chunked my suit at me.
"Get something on. No one in here wants to see your ugly, white ass, and Daniel is shitting his guts out. He's scared of you, remember?" Clay called at me as the front door open.
I turned back, hoping to shock Derek with my nudeness, finding him and a pretty girl, instead. He was talking about something and had his head turned around toward her, but her? She was watching me.
Her eyes widened and she gasped as she pointed at me. "Wow."
"Yep. Home grown." I nodded at Derek as he turned to see what was going on.
"Brody. Shit, man." He moved in front of the girl, and I walked into the kitchen, grabbing a hand towel and a beer. I dried my hair and walked back into the living room as Derek was trying to hustle the girl out of the house.
"You should stay. We're playing strip poker. I just suck at cards." I turned my attention back to Clay, who was chuckling.
"You're a fucker, you know that?"
I dropped down on the couch beside him, slapping at his feet to make room for me. I opened my beer and dropped the towel in my lap. No need to make everyone overly jealous.
"Yeah? I kinda like me." I took a long drink of the beer and leaned back, letting out a long breath. "Most women like me, too."
"Yeah, yeah. God's gift to women and shit. We all know." Clay nudged my arm with his foot. "You're going to find some intelligent, sexy minx one day, and you know what's going to happen?"
I looked over at him. "We're going to fuck like rabbits?"
"No," he sat up and chucked the magazine at me. "She's going to be everything you want in a girl, and she's going to deny your ass – plain and simple."
I caught the magazine and laughed deep in my chest. "Is that a joke?"
Daniel walked in, his complexion pale. "Is what a joke?"
"Stomach upset, buddy?" I asked before taking another sip of the beer.
"Something like that." He dropped down in a chair close to me and shook his head. "Are you naked?"
"Yep. You can thank your bowels for good timing." I patted Clay's shoulder. "Your buddy here got a pair of wet swim trunks to the face."
"Oh, great. At least he got his already." Daniel pressed his hands to his face and leaned back. "We need to find you a girl to sleep with. You're too damn aggressive otherwise."
"Sleep with? Who wants to-” I was cut off by Derek's loud, country voice as he barreled back into the house.
"Really, Brody? Shit, man." He closed the door and walked in, stopping beside the couch nearest to me.
"What?" I looked over at him. "Pretty girl, by the way. How much did you pay her?"
"She said you guys slept together a few nights back, and now she was looking for a real man." He shrugged and laughed as he turned toward the kitchen.
"Did we? I'm losing track of them." I yawned and rubbed my hand over my chest.
"Why do you do that?" Daniel asked, his voice softer than moments before.
"Do what?" I sat up and pulled the towel up to finish drying my hair.
He rolled his eyes and got up, acting as if he hadn't seen my dick a million times. Shy was one thing I wasn't.
"Treat women like objects." He disappeared into the kitchen, and I turned to Clay.
"Do I do that?" I lifted an eyebrow, already knowing the answer and not caring a bit.
He didn't glance up from his new magazine. "Yep, but so what? They do the same to you."
"Yeah." I stood up and walked into the kitchen. "Yeah. They do the same to me."
"You want them to, brother." Derek tossed a package of sausage to me. "Go get on some shorts and let’s get these things on the grill. You're the best man for the job."
"That's because you guys burn everything." I sat the sausages down and ran my fingers through my wet, blond hair. "Do I really objectify women?"
"Yep!" all three of my friends yelled in tandem.
"Well, I guess I should change that." I walked toward the bedroom as they all started to laugh. I joined them before yelling back behind me. "Naw, it's not my style. Fuck 'em all."